


Challenges

by Tierfal



Category: Ouran High School Host Club
Genre: Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-27
Updated: 2012-03-27
Packaged: 2017-11-02 14:31:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/370041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tierfal/pseuds/Tierfal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kaoru tries to keep his eyes on the prize.  Or at least on the pizza.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Challenges

**Author's Note:**

> For then-Edincoat, now-Zarathustra, who prompted me to use a line from my favorite poem.
> 
> Thanks for popping my incest-ship cherry, Ouran! Now please go DIAF.
> 
> Dear Byron: I'm sorry. Love, Tierfal

114  
      _I have not loved the world, nor the world me,  
     But let us part fair foes; I do believe,  
     Though I have found them not, that there may be  
     Words which are things, hopes which will not deceive,  
     And virtues which are merciful, nor weave  
     Snares for the failing. I would also deem  
     O’er others’ griefs that some sincerely grieve,  
     That two, or one, are almost what they seem,  
That goodness is no name, and happiness no dream._

“Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage: Canto III”  
Lord Byron

 

 

“Hey,” Kaoru says. “The kicked puppy look is reserved for my half of the act.”

Hikaru frowns at the passersby and swings one foot, bouncing his heel against the base of the fountain. “I know. It’s just that graduating sucks.”

Kaoru considers agreeing insofar as wearing a mortarboard feels like balancing a pizza box on your head, with the critical distinction that you don’t get to eat the pizza afterward, but he knows that’s not even remotely what Hikaru means. It’s better to face moments like this directly and get them over with. Especially now that he’s hungry for pizza.

“Hikaru,” he says, “we’re going to be fine.”

Hikaru’s frown, directed at the paving stones, deepens into a scowl. Kaoru settles a hand on his back and rubs gently, ignoring the half-muffled squeals from passing Club patrons. He’s been doing this since they were kids, whenever Hikaru gets worked up. There’s a power in the ritual itself now, all of the words of encouragement that have ever accompanied it contained in the gesture.

“We have approximately zero viable life skills,” Hikaru says. “Have you ever thought about that? What in the hell are we supposed to do with our lives once we run out of playgrounds? What happens when people stop handing things to us? This is the beginning of the end. All we’ve ever known how to do will be useless—more than useless, _destructive_ , because we’re used to seeing the world as something it’s not.”

“Hikaru—”

“Maybe we can move in with Haruhi’s dad,” Hikaru says, eyes narrowing and lips pursing as he thinks. “She’ll go off to get a pre-law degree, obviously, and I’m sure he’ll have empty nest syndrome, and we could sidle in. He likes us for our shared love of kicking Tamaki while he’s down, sometimes literally, so he might let us stay.”

“Hikaru,” Kaoru says again, tugging on a lock of his brother’s hair. A new set of girls going by gasps loudly and then dissolves into semi-hysterical giggles. At another time, Kaoru would experiment to see if he could cause them to explode.

“But that would be _lame_.” Hikaru rubs pensively at his cheek. “And I’m honestly not sure if I could get used to drinking tea that comes in _bags_. There’s something… unnatural… about it. That’s why God made tea strainers.” He draws one knee up onto the edge of the fountain and sets his elbow on it. “I guess that’s out. How much is the lottery prize these days?”

“Hikaru,” Kaoru says.

“But even that wouldn’t fix it. It’s not the quantity of money that’s the problem—it’s the… futility. The lack of purpose. The impossibility of contribution to a world full of people who wouldn’t deserve it anyway—”

“ _Hikaru_ ,” Kaoru says, taking his brother’s face gently in both hands. A girl he’s seen at the Club a few times actually passes out, and a sculpted hedge cushions her fall. Kaoru waits a moment to see if anyone is going to call for medical help, but nobody moves. It looks like the girl is still breathing normally—or, really, breathing _more_ normally than when she was hyperventilating a minute ago—so Kaoru decides she can wait.

“Kaoru,” Hikaru says in the Show Voice, half pulling away. “Not here. There are people watching us.”

“But Hikaru…” It goes entirely without saying that they will temporarily adjourn and resume this conversation in private. “I can’t help wanting to touch you. Why can’t I do it in public? Is that so wrong? Am I…” Kaoru averts his eyes. “…embarrassing?”

“Of course not,” Hikaru says, leaning towards him again, right hand rising to Karou’s chest and curling around the knot of his tie. “But I want to be the only one who ever gets to see you this way. You’re _my_ brother, after all.”

“Oh, _Hikaru_.” Kaoru summons up a flush that’s excellent even by his own, rather rigorous standards. Slowly he raises his head and gazes into Hikaru’s eyes.

In his peripheral vision, he identifies some first-year boy, mere seconds before the newcomer blurts out, “Holy _crap_ , are they _serious_?”

Someone ends up calling an ambulance after the girls have finished bludgeoning him. Kaoru has taken Hikaru’s hand and guided him off to a much more secluded hallway long before the sirens sound.

“We’re going to be all right,” he says then.

Hikaru eyes him. The mirror-image effect would probably be eerie to someone who wasn’t accustomed to it—or to someone who couldn’t viscerally sense what his reflection would do next.

“We are,” Kaoru says, “because we’re unstoppable. Even Kyoya thinks twice about messing with us, which is pretty much the highest praise you can get from the guy. The two of us are already legendary here. It’s just a matter of broadening our horizons.”

Hikaru isn’t convinced—yet. “How long do you think this double act thing is going to hold out, though? A high school career is one thing, but in the grand scheme—”

“Forever,” Kaoru says. “It’ll hold out forever, because we’re _that_ good. That’s the part you’re missing, Hikaru. We make the Weasley twins look like pathetic hacks.”

“They are pathetic hacks,” Hikaru says.

Kaoru smiles.

Hikaru is coming around, but slowly, and this next minute is important.

“What’s with this whole positive attitude all of a sudden?” he asks. “This isn’t really like you. It’s not _bad_ —just kind of unusual. I wasn’t expecting it from you.”

Kaoru smiles a little more. “Pessimism is easy,” he says. “I decided that I prefer a challenge.” He holds his arm out. “And so do you.”

Hikaru links his elbow with Kaoru’s, and Kaoru can make out the start of a smile. “You know me.” He glances over. “Which is why I think maybe—just _maybe_ —you’re right.”


End file.
